"We haven't made that decision," he said with the classic dismissiveness of an NFL coach preferring to shield information. When that seemed to placate reporters gathered around him, Pagano admitted, "Yeah, Scott'll start."

Of course Scott will start. Although some teams will bubblewrap their starter through most of the first two exhibitions - guys like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers might be lucky if their teams allow them inside the stadium - Tolzien needs to play.

"We'll look at it and see how we want to do things with the starters," Pagano said. "We'll treat him, obviously, as a starter."

Tolzien has been in the NFL for six seasons and has thrown 128 total passes. He never got off the bench in half of his professional seasons. So even though he currently is the Colts' No. 1 quarterback - not making this up, you can check the depth chart here - they have little choice but to get him as much experience as possible in the event they need him to play in real games.

Whether that will be the case won't be determined for a while. It's little more than a month until the Colts open the season Sept. 10 on the road against the Rams. Pagano said there's no timetable for Luck's return from offseason shoulder surgery. In a sense, there is only the hope he'll miss as few games as possible - best case scenario: none - and won't need an excessive amount of prep time once he's cleared to return.

"When they say he's healthy, ready to go, we'll him out here," Pagano said. "He's played a lot of football."

Luck hasn't had a healthy season since 2014. He played through the shoulder pain last season, missing only the team's Thanksgiving night loss to the Steelers. The year prior, he missed over half the season with injuries, which included a lacerated kidney.

Given that reality, and that Luck was recovering from the January procedure on his throwing shoulder, it's surprising the Colts chose to begin training camp with only one quarterback who had appeared in an NFL game - and no active QB who'd been drafted by an NFL team.

Tolzien was an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin in 2011 who signed as a free agent in Indy after three years in Green Bay. Backup Stephen Morris was undrafted after starting two college seasons at Miami (Fla.) and bounced on and off the Colts' roster last season. Rookie Phillip Walker started four seasons at Temple, but is only 5-11 and was ignored in the 2016 draft.

Pagano pronounced himself "real comfortable" with the QB situation, albeit with the caveat that his superstar isn't available.

"I like where they're at. They're all working hard," Pagano said. "They're not, we're not - as an offense, defense, special teams - the finished product. We're 6-7 days in. We all know we've got a long way to go. We've just got to keep our head down and keep working to get better."

The difficulty for the Colts in trying to build a winning formula through training camp is that the most important component of that formula won't be introduced until some unspecified future point.

Some offensive players have to pay attention merely to establishing their own value. For example, rookie wideout Bug Howard, an undrafted free agent from North Carolina, is trying to take advantage Donte Moncrief's absence. While the starting wideout sits due to injury, Howard hopes to get some eye-catching reps.

"Most of the time, the quarterback is throwing it to a spot," Howard said. "It's on the receiver to get to the spot and go get the ball. So a lot of times it's just spots you get to, and you know Andrew, he's going to put it there every time."

The players at other positions can work on individual techniques - in fact, they must pay particular attention to details of the game so they can concentrate on those elements requiring cooperation and chemistry when Luck returns.

Left tackle Anthony Castonzo, a fixture on the Colts' line through most of this decade, said Tolzien has a command of the huddle, and that's really the only variable at the moment regarding who's behind him at QB. Castonzo said Luck's absence does not affect his preparation for the season.

"I've got to prepare to do my job regardless of who's back there," Castonzo said. "Honestly, I can't even think about that."